Denzel Washington Honored at Wiley College

MARSHALL — Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington returned to Wiley College in Marshall Saturday, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the movie “The Great Debaters.” KETK reports he was honored during the college’s first Historically Black Colleges and Universities National Speech and Debate Championship Tournament. Washington starred as Melvin B. Tolson, the professor responsible for inspiring the college’s first-ever debate team. More than 400 debate and speech students from 17 HBCUs across the country came to compete Friday and Saturday. Washington was inducted into the college’s hall of fame on Saturday. His few words at the podium included this: “I wanna see some trophies. I’ll be back in 10 more years.”